Key Insights from the 2024 Austria & CEE Private Equity & Venture Capital Breakfast
April 18th, 2024, Vienna
Pedersen & Partners and CMS co-hosted the Austria & CEE Private Equity & Venture Capital Breakfast today, welcoming nearly 100 attendees from Austria, CEE and the other DACH countries. The event provided a lively and agile atmosphere for representatives of well-known local and international private equity funds to discuss, debate, and network.
The panel members were:
- Thomas Brake – Investment Director, capiton AG;
- Franz Hörhager – Founding Partner & Chairman, Accession Capital Partners;
- Benjamin Hubner – Managing Partner, Sophora Unternehmerkapital;
- Daniel Jennewein – Managing Director, AG Capital;
- Gregor Nischer – Managing Partner, MP Corporate Finance GmbH;
- Philipp Schupfer – COO, Board Member, Invest Unternehmensbeteiligungs AG;
- Anthony Stalker – Partner, CEECAT Capital;
- Katerina Zenz – Head of Austria & CEE, Mutares.
The panel discussion was co-chaired by Poul Pedersen – Executive Chairman, Pedersen & Partners, and Alexander Rakosi – Partner, Head of Private Equity, CMS.
Key takeaways from the event are summarised by Katharina Kaiser, Country Manager Austria at Pedersen & Partners:
- After three years of significant external impact from Covid, the war in Ukraine and inflation, the market is now “normalising” and deal activity is picking up.
- Add-on acquisitions are on the rise.
- Focus sectors include Industrial, Business Services and Life Sciences. For special situation funds, the Automotive sector is interesting.
- Fundraising is currently easier for large cap private equity and credit funds.
- In a rapidly changing macro environment, there are windows of opportunities for attractive exits. The value creation plan needs to be flexible in order to ensure that these exit opportunities are not missed.
- ESG is very important, with a focus on actual implementation over formalities. Portfolio firms with strong ESG policies gain a talent attraction benefit.
Pedersen & Partners is a leading global Executive Search and Leadership Consulting firm. We operate 54 wholly-owned offices in 50 countries across Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia & the Americas. Our values of Trust, Relationship and Professionalism apply to our interaction with clients as well as executives.